MU men’s hoops falls to Lafayette, 69-54 plus more additional quotes not in paper about Lafayette and MU

Please note: A BIG THANKS to MU grad Mark Mohrman , assistant SID at Lafayette, without whose help I would not have gotten on the web tonight!! Another MU grad makes good!!

Will Campbell topped MU with 12 points and Jesse Steele had 10.

Here is what King Rice had to say about LC – “”I want to say how much I enjoy watching tape of Lafayette. Before the game I asked coach (Fran) O’Hanlon If I can come down in the summer and pick his brain a little bit on how you play basketball. If I could bring my whole team if I would because we need to learn how to play how those kids know how to play.

“”So I just take my hat off to those guys for executing the way they did and playing basketball the right way..””

Rice on his team: “”Our guys just don’t believe they should win, they just don’t. I feel really bad for them in some areas because just as 20-year old guiys you shuld be confident as guys.
“”It must be because we haven’t won in a long time that our kids, they don’t believe we’re going to win. You have to start believing you’re going to win.”

EASTON, Pa. – It wasn’t that the Monmouth University men’s basketball team lacked highlight moments Wednesday night at Lafayette.
There just weren’t enough of them to prevent a 69-54 non-conference defeat at the hands of the well-skilled Leopards before 1,642 at the Kirby Sports Center.
There was the 9-0 Monmouth first-half run thet featured a flying one-hand stuff by Mike Myers Keitt that wiped out most of a 13-point Lafayette lead.
“They were moving the ball around and trying to get the best shot,” Myers Keitt said.
“We played a little tougher that last couple of minutes of the half and it worked out for us.”
But not for long enough.
“”They know how to play and play together as a team,” Myers Keitt said.
“”They were real patient and no matter how good a “D’ you play if you move the ball around and keep moving it, and make the extra pass, you’re eventually going to get a wide open shot.”
Lafayette made 14 of its 22 baskets from beyond the arc.
“”They shook away from us,” Monmouth coach King Rice said. “This game is going to be on our schedule for awhile. We’re going to catch up to them. We’re going to catch up to Lafayette and all the people having fun with us right now.
“‘We’ll catch up to Lafayette here in 1 or 2 classes. We’ll see how many (3-s) they make when we get to that point.”
Monmouth’s aggressive man-to-man defense forced the Leopards into 20 turnovers that Monmouth turned into 25 points.
Even trailing by 16 points in the second half players on the Monmouth bench exhorted their temmates with chants of “‘defense, defense.”
“”We just tried to do whatever we could to help our teammates pick the defense up,” Myers Keitt said.
Will Campbell’s 12 points and 10 by Jesse Steele led Monmouth.
Lafayette, which opened the second half with a trio of treys to expand a 35-25 lead eventually gained a 22-point margin in the final moments.
For almost every Monmouth positive there just seemed to be more negatives . They included Monmouth’s 30.5 percent shooting 18-for-59) from the floor including 25 percent (5-for-20) from downtown.
And the Hawks were unable to contain Lafayette’s motion offense which resulted in either layups or 3-point baskets paced by the long distance accuracy of senior Jim Mower.
Mower, who began the game as the school’s No. 29 all-time scorer with 1,101 career points, poured in 19 points Wednesday sinking 5 of 9 from deep.
Seemingly every time Monmouth was about to threaten the Leopards, mainly over the first half and in the early stages of the second, Mower or one of his teammates would swish a 3.
When Monmouth’s first-half spurt got it within 24-20 Mower zinged home 3’s on Lafayette’s next two posessions.
NOTES
Monmouth’s final 2 nonconference games are vs. ranked opponents at No. 5 North Carolina 3 p.m. (ESPNU) Sunday and Jan. 10 vs. No. 24 Harvard at the MAC.
If Harvard is still ranked at game time it’s believed Monmouth will have played 3 Top 25 Division I teams during the regular season for the first time.
Monmouth visted then No. 18 Vanderbilt Nov. 25.
Hawk freshman forward Andrew “Red” Nicholas (concussion) missed his second game in a row.
Wednesday’s defeat evened Monmouth’s record vs. Patriot League teams at 11-11.

tonygsports@aol.com

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About Tony Graham

Long time Asbury Park Press reporter of local high school and collegiate sports. Proud Phan of the 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies.

29 Responses to MU men’s hoops falls to Lafayette, 69-54 plus more additional quotes not in paper about Lafayette and MU

Tony you weren’t kidding about these LC guys loving to shoot the three and shooting it well. I watched it live video stream and it seemed like they were hitting everything. however they were getting some good looks. How come every time we get to the free throw line I cringe?? There is no excuse for poor free throw shooting.

KR got a little ‘snippy’ with the MU radio announcers after the game last night when they asked about going back to practice and defending the three pt shot. Hope he calms down. After all, if he was near a media mecca he would be constantly asked similar questions multiple times and having an attitude wouldn’t help his cause. Being ‘thin skinned’ isn’t going to help him teach his players. He still has two tough non-conference games before he can concentrate on what should be evenly talented NEC teams.
Tony, how has he been in you post game interviews?

Sorry to hear about Red. He is fun to watch and is the one guy who seems to be able to score. Sounds like a pretty pathetic effort vs Lafayette. The mtm defense should have be able to contest a few three’s. Giving up 69 pts is pretty bad against a team you would think MU would be superior to athletic wise. Maybe KR should bring in Ron Krayl as a consultant to teach D.

Buzz – He’s good in the post-game interviews. Doing the interviews right after a game on radio can be difficult..I give him credit for being so readily available…..most head coaches are not…Jenny also goes on radio after games…

He does sound like he has an attitude. I cannot understand why he would say things like, “‘We’ll catch up to Lafayette here in 1 or 2 classes. We’ll see how many (3-s) they make when we get to that point.”

He sounds like a sore loser. Hey KR, give the other team credit. You got beat.

I do not recall a top tier coach talking like this, challenging other teams. No class KR.

Bye – As a writer I enjoy the comments…better to me than..””we hope to get better, yada yada, yada.’

If I was a fan I would also rather hear some promises of good things to come….but that’s just me…

Now, of course, eventually he has to back it up or his words could haunt him (see Rex Ryan)…

He actually did credit LC for playing very well and for playing team ball..I chose not to use the quotes due to time and space constraints and because that’s what coaches usually say..

I am going to print what makes for more interesting and newsy reading if I have to make the pick….

Here is some of what he had to say about LC – “”I want to say how much I enjoy watching tape of Lafayette. Before the game I asked coach (Fran) O’Hanlon If I can come down in the summer and pick his brain a little bit on how you play basketball. If I could bring my whole team if I would because we need to learn how to play how those kids know how to play.

“”So I just take my hat off to those guys for executing the way they did and playing basketball the right way..””

Again in a short story…with some info included on the game as well..I gotta pick the most interesting comments – in my view ..

Also..often the MU web site includes his or any coaches opening statement which that was, so I do not like to repeat what is usually on the web anyway (why send a reporter if you’re gonna do that is my view)

I will say it again this guy is awfully cocky for a coach with all of two wins no? I dont get it. Be humble rice! Lafyette whooped you and Fran OHanlon is a great coach and has some very good teams there. Being a good player does not always translate to being a good coach. So much for that run and gun outscore ya stuff this coach boasted before the season. Seems we scored in the 50s and 60s just fine with our boring old offense. Is the bloom coming off the rose already in WLB?

And I will say it again, this coach is trying to get behind his team and building their confidence up. I like his attitude about the future and how he said we’ll catch up to some of these teams. How can the bloom be coming off the rose already when this poor guy is a fighting a war with none of his own soldiers. Just wait until the King gets a few of his own knights in his court.

To the KR’s defense as well I was listening to 88.9 towards the end of the game and the one announcer doesnt seem to be as seasoned as the other and made some iffy comments at some points.

When a new coach says something like “we’ll catch up to them in 1 or 2 classes” he’s obviously disappointed & disenchanted with the roster he’s inherited! Who can blame him (besides Ricearoni) — he’s used to winning!

I believe he will transform this program, but it’ll take 2-3 years to do so. Don’t forget, his first class next year will be all freshmen, and you know how inconsistent they can be. Once they become team leaders as sophs & juniors I think the Hurleys (and many others) will have their hands full.

Tony- it would appear that the comments you are using are painting a bad picture of him. It also appears that I am not the only one who see’s it. Like you said, in the end it is either put up or shut up.

Bye – I certainly do not intend to paint a bad picture. .but if it has to be a choice – between the “‘usual” comments and the more “‘newsy” ones I believe I have to go with the newsy angle. at least within the space in the paper I am allowed….that’s why a reporter is there in my view …

Now as you can see I did put his other comments here on the blog and will – if they’re not on gomuhawks – use more than in the Press…. .

i was pretty shocked when i read the article last night, but feel better after reading the additional compliments about the opponent. Either way, it was amateurish to say those things about Lafayette. Sounds like he couldnt get control in the heat of the moment.

He also talks about how these guys need confidence, yet he’s publicly stating that we’ll be competitive in 2 years. Take deep breaths King.

My major point is that I dont know why he sees the need to make comments about two or three years down the line. (This has nothing to do with my DC bias I promise). Hes gonna be here at least 3 years pending some major fiasco. But also, yes hes been a winner as a player, no doubting that and won at Vandy as an assistant, but winning as a head coach with your own program is something entirely different. Im just saying. But there is never ever a need to take soft shots at other teams unless they really deserve it. Maybe Mike Rice did, but OHanlon certainly did not. I just dont understand. Maybe he needs to learn how to be a head coach and the CEO of an organization. I also did not like the way he singled out Ed Waite sharply after the loss to Rider. Say what you want about Dave and his antics that many referred to on this blog, but he never singled out a guy in a press conference to the media. He spoke as “we.” I think King has a lot of growing up to do. I tried to type this as professional as possible so people could see where I was coming from.

Also, everyone says King inherited no players from Calloway. If used correctly, this team could be in the top half of the NEC, no question. Hes got a ton of junior and seniors. We all know the record, but Calloways teams were in most every game even when they were bad (NEC games and similar competition, not major conference teams).

Ricey – well thought out post even though it is bound to draw some fire

Now, I don’t know about the top half of the NEC…..don’t think so in my view. Maybe upper lower half under the former game plan…but is that the goal?..No, things had to change didn’t they? .

and while Dave rarely singled out a player he would often trash the entire team..how many times did he say the effort or performance was “‘pathetic”… too many times I thought…

A person who was with me last night commented on how hard the team was playing..and they did play hard..at least the effort was there…
Again I have no problem with KR speaking from the heart…how he feels or what he says…

Tough one last night. Even tougher break with Red. Bottom line for us is that we have a very, very thin roster of divison 1 players. We have lost almost 120 games over the last 5 plus years. Rex Rice needs to calm down on telling us how tough we are going to be in the future. Concentrate on what we have, recruit hard for the future. I am surprised about how thin skinned Rex is though.

riceaphoni is soo wrong about calloway. He was the king (no pun intended) of referring to the team as “they” and not we. That was one of my biggest gripes with his interviews. Maybe he didnt single out players, but he certainly lacked taking responsibility when he should have.

I just think King let his emotions get the better of him in that interview and thats probably why he piled on the compliments later (if they came later?).

King’s comments on LC were his opening statement and he was very gracious in his admiration for LC…..It is customary in these settings for a coach to make an opening statement and then the reporters ask questions of the coaches and or players…

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Josh Newman on Monmouth University and local college athletics

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Josh NewmanJosh Newman has worked for the Press since September 2004, covering a variety of high school beats in addition to college sports and the New York Jets. A 2004 graduate of Springfield College, he is currently the beat reporter for Monmouth University.E-mail Josh

Sherlon ChristieSherlon Christie is a sports reporter at the Asbury Park Press. He joined the Press in the fall of 2004. He grew up in Massachusetts and has a BA in journalism from Northeastern University's School of Journalism. He is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.E-mail Sherlon

Steve EdelsonSteve Edelson has been covering the area sports scene for more than 25 years. And while he has chronicled the accomplishments of many athletes, he's still patiently waiting for his first hole-in-one.E-mail Steve

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